Single Unit Lets Clinicians Transport, Defibrillate and View Data

Feb. 23, 2007 — Philips has announced availability of its new HeartStart MRx monitor/defibrillator with capability to network with the Philips IntelliVue Clinical Network. The design enables the device to serve as a wireless transport monitor/defibrillator or cardiac bedside monitor/defibrillator with built-in pacing, synchronized cardioversion and defibrillation capabilities.

The company says hospitals using the MRx will be able to transport patients who require cardiac monitoring or therapy between departments or within the same unit without changing equipment. The MRx can also be used at the bedside in departments that would benefit from having both centralized surveillance and cardiac therapy at their fingertips.

"For the critical care environment, the ability to transport, defibrillate and view the data at a central station is the best of all worlds," said Lynn Cochran, Director of Cardiovascular In-Patient Services at Edward Hospital and Health Services in Naperville, IL. "And since the HeartStart MRx uses the same cables and leads as IntelliVue bedside monitors, transports are faster and easier. You just remove the cables from the bedside, plug them into the MRx and away you go."

Philips says the HeartStart MRx offers the longest battery-powered operating time, as well as the largest color display and fastest time-to-shock of any monitor/defibrillator. Philips’ highly scalable, flexible IntelliVue Clinical Network is designed specifically to manage the flow of time-critical, round-the-clock patient monitoring data. The network maintains a controlled connection to exchange information on the hospital network and can also export patient data in HL7 format to a patient's electronic chart and other clinical information systems.

Philips will showcase the HeartStart MRx at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual meeting, Feb. 26 to March 1 in New Orleans.